Tattoos
by untypical
Summary: No! Not mine! This is my disclaimer! Oh, and neither is Dunkin Donuts! Jack and the crew are in highschool! Ack! Wonder what will happen... JOC, slash WOC, EN
1. New

You know the basic deal, Jack Sparrow and the whole schpeal of people are plopped down into the future. Eh, I just felt like writing this. Should I continue?  
  
BTW I dunno Barbossa's first name in the movie so it's gunna be MIKE! If anyone knows than review on it!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Jack sat in front of the bathroom mirror, weaving hair in between his fingers to make short, thin braids all around his head. Holding a braid in his hand, he glanced at his gaudy wristwatch and rolled his eyes. School started in ten minutes.  
  
Finishing up his braids, Jack rimmed his eyes with his sister's eyeliner and stood. He was wearing a black hoody and baggy black jeans with a few holes in the left knee. He had skateboarding shoes with holes in the toes and his fingernails were painted black. He had a handful of rings on, and a variety of bracelets than piled up to his mid-lower arm.  
  
Jack looked himself over. Bloody new schools. More people to judge and be judged by, what a waste of time.  
  
He grabbed an old black bookbag from a chair in the kitchen and then his walkman from the counter. Then he went and got in the old Malibu in his driveway, and pulled out onto the maple-tree shadowed street.  
  
Pulling up to an intersection where he should've turned straight, a Dunkin Donuts caught Jack's eye and he turned left instead.  
  
After a drive that took much longer than it should've, Jack Sparrow pulled into Port Royale High's parking lot. The school was like any other, really. Nothing special here.  
  
Jack wandered into the Administration building and walked into the office. The woman at the desk looked up at him over sharp glasses with hawk eyes. "And you are?" Her voice was shrill.  
  
"Jack Sparrow. New here."  
  
The woman's over-tweezed eyebrow raised. She rolled in her chair over to another desk and got a small pile of papers with the name Sparrow on it. "Your sister, Maria, was already here," She said, making it sound like an accusation.  
  
Jack laughed. His mother must've registered his sister as 'Maria' instead of Anamaria. "Yes well my sister takes less time to prepare in the morning than I do, savvy?"  
  
Another eyebrow raise.  
  
"Quite. You'll be sharing a locker, number 923. A map of the school is folded and paperclipped to your locker information. Homeroom, classes, and rooms are all on the pink schedule. A Welcome letter is in there, in green."  
  
Jack grimaced. This woman had to be too organized for her own good. "Er. . . thank you." He walked out quickly and went up to the second floor to find his locker.  
  
The first thing he learned was how to hit his locker so it opened without combination. The second was that his lockermate was an artist. The third? She was a girl.  
  
Jack grinned at the tampon on the top shelf. He opened it an hung it from the coat hook, then took out a pen and drew a smiley face on it. "Ah, the perfect décor." Jack looked at the rest of the minimal decorations. There was a sticker that said, "I bite, hard" and a hand-drawn picture of a faery with dragon wings. Then there was a picture of two people who had to be siblings, a girl and a boy. They had their arms on each other's shoulders. The girl might be his locker mate. For some reason, he doubted it was the guy.  
  
She was pretty. Purplish blue eyes and long black hair in braids. Mocha skin that looked soft and a cute face. Jack hoped she was his locker mate.  
  
Not doing much but dropping off his bookbag and folding his schedule into his pocket, he closed the door of peeling red paint.  
  
Jack wandered to the homeroom that was assigned to him. "Mr. Norrington. Eich. How Brit."  
  
The door was open and he walked in. The man he assumed to be Norrington stood and said, "Hello. And you would be?"  
  
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Sparrow. Jack Sparrow." Norrington held out his hand and Jack looked at it, then wrung his own hands together.  
  
The class giggled. Someone in the back of the room cooed at Jack, making fun of his last name.  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. "Sparrows don't coo, you whelp. Pigeons do, like the one who obviously shit all over your shirt- whoops! I mean, pooped."  
  
Norrington eyed him. "Take your seat, Mr. Sparrow."  
  
Jack's eyebrow went back up at the formality. He grinned, "So I'm Mr. Sparrow. Does that mean I can call you. . ." He glanced at his schedule, which stated the teacher's names, "James?"  
  
"Enough, Sparrow."  
  
The class giggled.  
  
"Oh, so it's Sparrow, now? Have I been downsized?"  
  
"MISTER SPARROW! I advise you to close your mouth before you get detention on the first day."  
  
Jack shrugged and Norrington grew red in the face. He opened his mouth to throw a detention at him, but the bell rung and Jack and the rest of the class rushed out.  
  
In the hallway Jack was approached by a young woman with long blonde hair and curious brown eyes. "Hello! That was brilliant in class! Elizabeth Swann," She stretched out her hand.  
  
Jack eyed it, then looked at her.  
  
Elizabeth retracted her hand, and smiled nervously. "So, where are you going?"  
  
Jack shrugged, and pulled out his schedule. He didn't have time to look at it, though, because Elizabeth snatched it out of his hands.  
  
"Eee! We have geometry together!" Elizabeth squealed. Another boy from homeroom passed them, and immediately her attention shifted.  
  
"Will! Come here, Will!"  
  
A boy with longish, slightly curly brown hair stopped, looked around, and walked up to the duo. "Hello, Liz. Who's this?" He looked up through his bangs with warm brown eyes.  
  
"Jack Sparrow, from homeroom. Jack, this is Will Turner."  
  
Jack nodded distractedly. Another person walked out of his home-room. A girl. The girl in his locker. "Hold that thought, would you?"  
  
The two looked at him, confused. He pushed between them. "Excuse me," Jack said, tapping on the girl's shoulder, "Is your locker number 923?"  
  
The girl nodded, a worried look growing on her face. "Did someone. . ."  
  
Jack shook his head and smiled. "No. We're locker mates. Jack Sparrow, and you are?"  
  
"Venice Spade."  
  
What a pretty name. What a pretty girl. . .  
  
Jack nodded. "Eh, do you know where geometry is?"  
  
She smiled. "Yeah, I'm going there now."  
  
Jack grinned. "Good. Hold on. . ." Jack remembered that Liz had his schedule. He wandered back over to the two. "Erm, I need my schedule, Liz."  
  
She blushed and handed it to him. Will said, "Why don't you walk with us to Geometry?"  
  
"Sorry mates, I'm walking with my locker buddy."  
  
"Who?" Liz looked around.  
  
"Venice Spade." Jack loved how it rolled off his tongue, and in his reverie he barely noticed the look of disgust come to Liz's pretty face.  
  
"Ew. . . she's so weird! Walk with us!" Liz clutched onto Jack's arm. Jack's face grew a surprised, almost disgusted look on it. Did Will just glare at him?  
  
Across the hall Venice watched as Liz Swann grabbed onto Jack. She rolled her eyes. 'Friends with that poser? Please.' And she walked off.  
  
Jack turned around to get away, but his face fell when he saw that Venice had left. He turned back to the two behind him. "Oh, fine. Shall we?"  
  
In geometry, he caught sight of Venice immediately, who was concentrating fiercely on a notebook in front of her. 'Is she really doing the warm-up on the first day?' Jack rolled his eyes. 'Oh god.'  
  
Jack went to sit near the back of the room, but was surprised to see names on the desks. 'Oh bloody hell, we have assigned seats?' He wandered about, looking for his name.  
  
Hey ironico, he found it to the immediate left of Venice Spade. Elizabeth sat behind Venice, and Will sat two seats down from Liz. Rolling his eyes, he cursed alphabetical order for sticking him next to a goody-two-shoes. Oh well, at least he could copy off of her.  
  
Looking over, he realized that maybe she wasn't a goody-two-shoes after all. She was drawing in a sketchbook, not writing down answers. He grinned.  
  
"Hello, miss me?" Venice looked up, surprised. She smiled shortly and looked behind her.  
  
"Oh bloody hell. It's the mindless mod-squad."  
  
"Ouch. What was that for?"  
  
She raised her arched eyebrow. "You're obviously new here. And you hooked up with Liz Swann?"  
  
Jack snorted, and a few people around him looked at his crudeness. "Oh bloody hell yourself! Liz? She's nuts! I'm not 'hooked up' with her."  
  
Venice's face brightened. "Well, that's an M & M of a different color."  
  
Jack smiled. "Can I see?" He said, gesturing to her sketchbook.  
  
Her face grew uneasy again. "Oh come on! I won't laugh."  
  
She hesitantly handed it over. On it was an extremely well drawn woman figure, hugging her knees and crying. "Wow. This is really good."  
  
Venice rolled her eyes. "Sure."  
  
"I mean it! Except for the sketchiness of the lines and the lack of color and everything, it looks real. Shadows are in the right place. Feet and hands well formed and proportionate. Face evened out and it has personality."  
  
Venice was surprised at Jack's real description of her picture. It wasn't some shit answer.  
  
She warmed up a little to him. "You were funny in homeroom. Norrington's an ass."  
  
"So was that pigeon kid."  
  
She laughed. "Mike Barbossa. No one really likes him too much, but he has his own crew." Jack loved her laugh. . .  
  
Jack contemplated the name, remembered it. He looked to the door.  
  
"Ana? Ha! What are you doing in geometry!" He joked to his twin sister. Anamaria Sparrow rolled her eyes and searched for her name tag. Which of course was right next to Jack.  
  
"You retard. We're supposed to switch seats."  
  
Jack grinned. "No we aren't. Mom registered you as Maria."  
  
Ana gagged. "You've gotta be shitting me!"  
  
"Nope. Old Hawk Woman at the front desk called you Maria."  
  
Obviously Ana remembered the woman, because a distgusted look came on her face. "Erk. Were her eyes as yellow as her teeth or was it just the light?"  
  
Venice snorted and laughed. "Nope, they're both pretty yellow."  
  
"And you would be?" Ana looked at her.  
  
"This is Venice Spade, my dear sister."  
  
"And can't she introduce herself?"  
  
"Yes, but we wouldn't want you to scare her off."  
  
"Jack you're gunna get it when we get home you Eunuch."  
  
Will spoke up. "Eunuch?"  
  
"Guy without a dick, love," Jack said, laughing. "And I'm not a Eunuch!" 


	2. The Spades

Eich! Flamed. Um, ok, I liked the tampon thing. Big deal. The rest is like my highschool was. Jeeze. And it's not the same plot line love. Double Jeeze. You must be awfully talented to tell the entire plot from 5 pages.  
  
Thanks for all the great reviews! And yes, I CAN accept constructive criticism! Not flames. I will openly bitch at flames  
  
Savvy?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Jack walked out onto the quad, searching for a familiar face. Venice was the first one he saw. She sat alone in the soft, manicured grass and drew on the same sketch pad, a brown bag untouched beside her.  
  
Until he plopped down, Venice didn't notice he was there. She looked up and smiled dazzlingly at him.  
  
Minutes later, Will and a resisting Elizabeth sat down with them. Eventually, Ana came down as well. Venice couldn't help but smile. She had friends now.  
  
Jack sat and stared at the sky. He wanted out. So when everyone else got up and went on their way, Venice made her move.  
  
"So, I don't really like my next classes. . ."  
  
Jack snorted. "You actually like some of your classes?"  
  
Venice rolled her eyes and shut her sketchbook. Jack got a quick glimpse of it, but she put it in her messenger bag right away. "No, but if you're going to be so annoying, maybe I'll just ditch alone."  
  
Jack raised an eyebrow. "You're going to ditch?"  
  
"No I just felt like saying that."  
  
"Oh. . ."  
  
"Jack, you're an idiot. I'm leaving. Are you going to join me?"  
  
He grinned. "Shall we, love?"  
  
~***~  
  
Mr. Norrington was debating whether he was surprised or not. Jack Sparrow was supposed to be in his class right now. He had ditched.  
  
Curiously another student had, a girl by the name of Venice Spade. Artist, poet. That kind. The kinda who was in school but not really paying attention. She did well in class though. He didn't complain.  
  
If Sparrow was being an instigator (which, for some reason, was really easy to imagine), then he'd get a hell of a surprise after he messed with James Norrington.  
  
~***~  
  
Will looked around the classroom. Jack wasn't there. . . and Will's thoughts were confirmed when he didn't answer role call.  
  
Neither did Venice.  
  
Did they go off together?  
  
Will grinned. Jack wasn't half bad at this stuff.  
  
He looked over at Ana. She was busy talking to a boy next to her, Josh Gibbs.  
  
Whenever Will looked at Josh he was reminded of an old Western movie, of a rough-and-tough cowboy that rode into the sunset being chased by the hero of the movie. It was the sideburns and thick, wavvy hair that did it. Bushy eyebrows.  
  
Will shook his head. 'I'm such a loser,' he thought.  
  
"Yes, you are."  
  
Will jumped and spun around wildly. A guy sat in front of him with dark hair and dark blue eyes, mocha complexion and a grin framing his pearly whites. He was twisted around in his chair.  
  
"Dude, you're here, aren't you?"  
  
Will looked confused.  
  
"Norrington called your name. Wake up man, it's past lunch time." The boy giggled.  
  
Will looked around. "Uh, here." The class giggled. Norrington looked at him  
  
"We've established that, Mr. Turner. Now please pay attention. Mr. Spade! Turn around." Norrington barked at the two boys.  
  
Mr. Spade?  
  
The guy turned around again. "Nice te meet ye, Turner. The name's Damien Spade."  
  
Will raised an eyebrow. "Are you related to Venice?"  
  
"Which Venice?"  
  
"There's more than one?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Then why. . . nevermind. Will Turner."  
  
"I know."  
  
"How. . . Oh. Attendence."  
  
"And yes, I'm related to Venice. Step siblings. Really close in age, same fathers different moms."  
  
"You look alike," Will said, studying Damian.  
  
"Does that mean you think I'm pretty?" He grinned evilly.  
  
Will blushed and stammered. "I. . . uh. . ."  
  
"MR. TURNER!" Norrington yelled from the front of the class. "DETENTION! MR. SPADE, YOU TOO! SEE ME AFTER CLASS."  
  
Norrington's face was bright red, and he hovered demonically in the front of the room. Will shrunk down.  
  
Damian rolled his eyes but turned around. He began to write furiously.  
  
Will sat up and began to do so as well. Except he was taking notes. . . Damian was writing one.  
  
But Will didn't know this until the end of the period, when Damian handed him a delicately folded paper with doodles all over it and loopy, slanted writing, all in green pen.  
  
Will stared at it as he walked down to an Economics class.  
  
~***~  
  
Jack and Venice romed around town, drinking mocha freezes that they had gotten from a local Barnes and Nobles. Venice was laughing horribly at Jack's latest joke and the mocha freeze she had just swallowed was coming out her nose.  
  
Jack laughed and gave her his napkin. Then he whispered some dirty words in her ear and it happened even more.  
  
To get back at him she put on a pouty face, complaining about how he was so mean and how she should go home right now, and he gave her a sweet hug.  
  
But it was interrupted by her tongue going up his cheek.  
  
He nearly gagged. "ERRK!" He yelled, wiping it on her black hoody. She laughed and he went to lick her right back but she stopped him right before he got to her cheek.  
  
She pushed his face to look at her. "Nope! We're even."  
  
Jack grinned. Not in his eyes. But his eyes, by accident, had wondered down to Venice's reddened, cold lips. . .  
  
~***~  
  
Will dropped his stuff off at his locker and headed for study hall with only a notebook and a few pens.  
  
And, of course, Damian Spade's note to him.  
  
He hadn't opened it yet, and he was almost afraid to. Finally, sitting in a far corner of the classroom, he unfolded it carefully.  
  
Inside, the loopy writing continued. It said;  
  
Will-  
So you know my sister? Does that give me an excuse to hang out with you? LOL. So I was wondering, you wouldn't happen to be doing anything this Saturday night? I was just going to go to this underage night club. . . and I want you to come.  
  
Are you single?  
  
Sorry, I suppose the better question is, are you gay?  
  
And I guess I should say sorry again for being so forward. But give me a call, just to tell me. Sorry if I freaked you out love. . . I just have no patience (.  
  
Sincerity oozing from pores I didn't know I had. . .  
  
Damian Spade  
  
PS:  
  
And Damian signed his number after the PS. Will liked the way he wrote his twos. It was cute.  
  
Speak of the devil, Damian Spade walked in. He grinned when he saw Will, and sat down next to him. "Hello, love."  
  
Will blushed.  
  
"Oh, so I see you read my note? I wasn't too forward, was I?" Damian's hands wrung together under the desk.  
  
Will grinned nervously. "No. . . it just surprised me."  
  
"So?"  
  
"So what?" Will looked at him, confused.  
  
Damian rolled his eyes. "Are you gay?"  
  
Will shrugged. "I thought I had a crush on Liz Swann. . . I don't know. I might be."  
  
"So come with me to the night club and fight out, ok?"  
  
Will nodded uneasily. Damian gave him a quick hug and then sat back in his desk.  
  
Will couldn't help but think about Saturday night. And so lost in thought was he that he almost jumped when he felt Damian's hand on his leg.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ok! Back by popular demand! I'm glad everyone liked. . . keep reviewing and I'll keep posting! 


	3. Things discovered

Q.W. Wow! Thanks! I was a little cheesed, but I'm so glad you like. I should've made reference.it didn't occur to me. Plus I'm going to build on that.so I suppose I should! To the author of Dead End Angels, I'm sorry! And to you QW.keep reading! I'm sorry for being a little hasty myself.  
  
Everyone else too.R and R! I'll post as fast as I can but those stupid mid- terms.oh well. Between this and finishing up the other I'm busy! I'll work fast!  
  
Hope you enjoy.I'm gunna have my slashy actions up! Will is just such a cutey!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
After school, Will proceeded to Norrington's stuffy classroom for detention. He met Damian in the hall and walked with him.  
  
Right before they turned the corner to Norrington's room, an evil look flashed in Damian's eyes. "Let's ditch."  
  
Will rolled his eyes. "Haven't you gotten me in enough trouble already?"  
  
Damian shook his head and threw a puppy-dog pout at Will. Will shook his head too, then said, "No way in hell. My parents will KILL me!"  
  
"So you'll come."  
  
"Wait. . . what?"  
  
Damian didn't respond. He just grabbed Will's arm and tugged him down the hall, giggling.  
  
Outside the air was crisp and simply autumny. Port Royale (in Massachusetts) glistened in the sunlight, and Damian just smiled and smiled. Slyly he slipped his hand in Will's as they wandered down Main Street together. The leaves were just beginning to turn to flaming colors and the grass was still green, but the air was cool and the sky began to change to an icier blue.  
  
They walked past the Barnes and Nobles, past the graveyard and church, past the Organics food store. Soon they could smell the Atlantic ocean, the docks that were only a few more blocks away.  
  
Damian walked closer to Will. Will picked up his message and slipped his arm around Damian's broad shoulders. Damian placed his tan arms on Will's strong back. Will, the slightly taller, drew Damian into him even more.  
  
~***~  
  
Jack's face instinctively moved in. Their lips met. Venice was a hell of a kisser. God. . .  
  
Jack could kiss her all day. Nothing else mattered. When they stopped again, Venice took notice of her surroundings and said, "Hey, we're at the docks!"  
  
Jack grinned and joked, "Nah, this is just the hallucinations you get off of kissing me."  
  
"Oh yeah, you just make me so high." Venice grinned cutely and Jack led her back towards the small forest behind them. Even from down here Jack could smell the coffee and hairspray from the row of shops on Main Street. He smelled the salty ocean.  
  
But all the smells disappeared when Venice slinked up to him and slipped her arms around his neck. Then all he smells was her cinnamon-lavender hair, her vanilla skin, her spicy perfume. Then smells didn't matter, it was just the feeling.  
  
His stomach did a pleasant flip, and his throat tingled. His legs went numb and he fell over with Venice's lips still massaging his own. The grass below them was soft, and they had missed the trees by a few feet.  
  
Soon Venice rolled off of him. Jack looked at her. "Ok. . ." Was all he could say.  
  
She smiled shyly and curled up in his arm, snuggling into his warm body. Jack smiled as she closed her eyes, and allowed his hands to sit on the front of her shoulder and on her lower stomach. He watched the clouds float by.  
  
Before he knew it, he was drifting off to sleep himself, with the best kind of teddybear in his arms.  
  
~***~  
  
Will and Damian walked along the sidewalked that rimmed the forest and the ocean. The air had grown soft to them as their skin softened towards it, and they kept each other warm.  
  
As the two boys walked the curving sidewalk, they were somewhat surprised to see Jack and Venice curled up on the grass. They looked so adorable together.  
  
Will noticed that Venice's sleave was pushed up to about her elbow, and there were intricite designs drawn on them. . . spirals and shapes and lines. He walked up to her, leaving Damian's side. Damian watched, a little confused.  
  
Will studied them scrupulously. The designs weren't drawings. They were carvings.  
  
Suddenly Venice jumped up, wide awake. She snarled, but put her sleave down. Will backed away.  
  
Realizing what had happened, she smiled softly. "Why, hello boys. Come here often?"  
  
Will grinned. "You look like you got fairly acquainted with my little bit of land."  
  
Venice blushed. Damian grinned.  
  
"Damian! When was the last time you walked down here, eh?"  
  
Damian shrugged non chalantly. "Probably a few years ago. Who's he?"  
  
"Jack Sparrow. Classmate. New. Why weren't you in homeroom this morning?"  
  
"I was late. Stupid office. . . messed up my locker."  
  
Venice eyed him but whatever she was thinking she let slip away. Her tapered fingers wove together and she stretched, giggling.  
  
Her laugh woke a very sleepy Jack. "'Ello, Will. Who's your friend?" He said as he stood wobbly. He stretched too, exactly like Venice had.  
  
"Damian Spade."  
  
"Any relation?" Jack asked as he slipped his arm around Venice's waist.  
  
"Half siblings, love," Ivy said, "Same dad, different mums."  
  
Jack nodded. Then he searched around for his coffee only to realize it wasn't anywhere to be seen.  
  
"Bloody hell! Why is the coffee gone?"  
  
~***~  
  
On Jack's desperate plead, the four went to Barnes and Nobles again.  
  
After fulfilling Jack's need for coffee, and the rest of them getting something warm as well, they gathered around a high, round table and sat on the stools.  
  
Will's feet were the only ones that touched the ground at all. Jack's almost did. Damian's feet could by absolute tip-toe and Venice's couldn't at all, even if she sat on the very end of her chair and pointed her well- trained dance toes.  
  
This was the topic of their conversation for a little while.  
  
Deciding against going back outside, for the temperature was slowly dropping, they stayed in Barnes and Nobles. Venice picked up a CD she had been looking for and Will picked up a book he had needed.  
  
More than once each couple had snuck off and kissed in a deserted isle of the book store. Venice enjoyed clearing her throat immediately behind them. But then again, Damian did the same thing right back.  
  
~***~  
  
When the quartet finally grew bored, they piled into Jack's car and went to Jack's house.  
  
The car ride was pleasant enough, with Venice's new CD blaring and hands being held and touched constantly. The heat was turned on a little bit, and everything was very comfortable.  
  
Noticing that Will and Damian had fallen asleep together in the back seat, he extended the drive, taking the long way home. Venice was beginning to doze off too.  
  
Jack got bored of this too, and took off towards the tree-shadowed road that he lived on.  
  
~***~  
  
Damian was debating whether he liked waking up from his position, having Will move his head from his lap. He sighed and shrugged. Hopefully they'd watch a movie or something where it could happen again.  
  
And luck was on his side, because after a few minutes, popcorn's mini explosions could be heard in the microwave, and Jack was fiddling with the DVD remote.  
  
At the beep, Venice wandered out and got the bag of popcorn. Jack shouted, "Eureka!" Triumphantly, waiting as the previews rolled. He situated himself on an overstuffed chair and relaxed, while Damian and Will sat close on the couch.  
  
Secretly, Jack wondered how long it would be until they were both laying down.  
  
Venice wandered in with a glass bowl full of salty, buttery, popcorny goodness. She put it on the table between Jack and the other two boys and looked around.  
  
"So where does the lady sit?"  
  
Damian snorted. "Lady? Where?"  
  
Venice glared at him. "Here."  
  
Jack sat up and motioned to his lap. "Right here sound alright?"  
  
Venice smiled and settled herself on the chair with Jack. Will watched, taking guesses in his head about how long it would take for them to start on each other.  
  
Damian's hand found it's way onto Will's leg, and Will gasped out of his thoughts. Damian's fingers drumed on Will's knee. Not wanting to hold back anymore, Will put his hand on Damian's leg, but higher.  
  
Damian grinned at the challenge. His hand moved up. So did Will's.  
  
It only took about 15 minutes of off and on movie watching, teasing, and touching before the two boys layed down together on the soft couch.  
  
~***~  
  
Jack tried to control himself as Venice's hands trickled lightly up and down the back of his neck. His arm was wrapped around her waist and his fingers tucked into the tip of her pants. The other hand rested on her thigh.  
  
To tease him, Venice pushed his face gently towards her, then ran her nails down his cheek. As slowly as he could manage, he put his hand on her neck, slipped down in the chair, and lured her down with him. 


	4. Back To Dunkin Donuts

Woohoo! I was told Barbossa's first name: It's Hector. So consider it Hector instead of Mike now.consider the first thing edited. It'll be posted eventually, probably after this one.  
  
About the angelic markings.think Night Crawler from the X-Men. Not where I got the idea, but where I confirmed I wanted to do it.  
  
Holy crap! I love you Q.W.!!! thanks bunches..i'm writing a story about a chick named Ivy and it got all mixed up..it was kinda choppy, yeah. This one'll be improved, promise! And the whole car/driving and stuff is confusing.I think it's all in order but I'll double check and fix it all up a bit.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Jack let his tongue play on Venice's soft lips. He shivered as her tapered fingers rolled around in his braids. His hands slithered around her warm waist and he rolled over a little, to be able to pin her to the chair. They giggled together as they didn't succeed, and ended up on the floor.  
  
Jack's hands grew bolder, and began to run up her shirt. Her skin was smooth and delicate, and he kept going. . .  
  
Wait.  
  
There was a rough spot on Venice's back. She jumped back when he touched it, purple eyes wide with fear.  
  
"You didn't touch it!"  
  
Jack's confused expression didn't change while he shook his head.  
  
Venice collapsed into herself. Her sleeves folded up a little bit.  
  
There were markings carved into her skin.  
  
Maybe even burned. No scab was there, just a trench that looked like it had been died blue or purple. Jack stared at it.  
  
It didn't end where her sleeve began, he guessed. So he inched closer to Venice in her fetal position, and pushed the black sleeve up.  
  
Venice twitched backwards but Jack advanced again and she gave up. Slowly she took off her hoody to reveal a black tanktop. . .  
  
And markings that covered her entire upper body.  
  
"What are they?" Jack whispered, bewildered.  
  
"Angelic markings," Venice said as a solitary tear rolled down her cheek, bringing a trace of black eyeliner with it. "They. . ."  
  
But Will and Damian began to stir. She pulled the heavy hoody over her head then curled up on the chair, falling asleep rather quickly.  
  
Jack scowled. He had a feeling Venice would be constantly running.  
  
~***~  
  
Will rolled over, surprised when the couch sliipped out from beneath him. He landed with an 'omf' and moaned painfully.  
  
Jack smirked. Will glared at him, but anything he would've said was cut off by Damian rolling over as well. . . also falling off the creaking couch and landing right on Will.  
  
Two more 'omf's sounded. Jack stood quickly and pounced on the empty couch. It creaked loudly and Venice woke up.  
  
"What the fuck was that?"  
  
"'EY! WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUAGE!" Jack yelled.  
  
Everyone laughed, then stopped, realizing that they sounded like an old TV sitcom when they started laughing.  
  
Will giggled. "That was weird."  
  
Jack rolled onto his back, the screech coming back for a moment. "Let's go get donuts," He said, staring at the ceiling. Venice rolled her eyes.  
  
She stood up and stretched. Her sweatshirt lifted and a bit of her stomach was revealed, then a little higher and a tidbit of blue. . .  
  
"Venice!" Damian scolded, "Watch yourself!"  
  
Jack had noticed, but Will was looking around wildly. "What?"  
  
Damian glared at Will. "Nothing, Will. Don't hurt yourself thinking about it."  
  
Wil shrunk back.  
  
Jack looked about, and took the silence for his own. "Let's go. I'm hungry."  
  
"We just had donuts!" Venice stared, then realizing what she said, sighed, "I mean popcorn. Oh shut up," She said to no one in particular. "Bloody hell."  
  
Jack laughed at her, then said, "Let's go anyway. We can go to Dunkin Donuts and eat in my car."  
  
~***~  
  
For the fourth time that day, Jack drove on the maple-tree shadowed road. The sky was growing progressively darker by now, and the stars were beginning to dimly appear. Venice sighed and leaned back in the passenger seat, staring at the night.  
  
Damian glared at the back of her head, hoping it would burn a hole in her skull. How stupid could his little half-sister be? It was bad enough the markings were there in the first place, but to practically show them off?  
  
Venice peeked into the rear-view mirror, and saw Damian's angry face. She knew exactly what he was thinking, and she shrunk down in her seat, imagining his gaze sizzling through her hair and head. Subconsciously she put her hand to her head.  
  
Jack looked over at Venice, who had just shrunk down in her seat. She had a pouty expression on, and she kept cracking the joints in her hands. He watched as she bit her lip, then looked out to the dark, silohuetted trees.  
  
Will saw Damian's contorted face and sensed his anger, and he turned his body a bit to be able to reach out his leg. Gently he rubbed it on Damian's, who shook his head, then glanced and smiled at Will. His hand reached over and rested on Will's leg until Will scooted closer to him and rested his head on Damian's shoulder. Damian sighed contentedly and laced his fingers in between Will's.  
  
The four tripped out of the car when they pulled into the flourescent-lit gas-station with the nearest Dunkin Donuts.  
  
Running inside first and forgetting about her comment about already eating, Venice eyed the donuts. When the three boys caught up, she pointed out the ones she liked, and suggested that they get a box of twelve or something.  
  
"And I love Boston Creams! Then of course, we have to get some strawberry- icing ones. . ."  
  
Jack stared at her, and interrupted. "You have the oddest taste in donuts! Whatever happened to glazed and powdered?"  
  
Will laughed and put his arm around Damian. Damian grinned. "She does have an odd tongue, eh?"  
  
'I wouldn't say that. . . I think she has a great tongue. . .' Jack thought, but kept his thoughts to himself. Instead he shrugged, and walked up to the counter.  
  
"Ok, can we have two chocolate-icings, a strawberry icing, three Boston Creams, two powdereds, a glazed, then whatever three we didn't get is their choice."  
  
The lady behind the counter rushed to get each donut and put in neatly in the box. Will and Damian looked around, and finally Will said, "How about a chocolate glazed, and two jelly donuts."  
  
Damian nodded, then threw a short pile of one dollar bills on the counter. Venice put three more on top. "Then can we get two coffees?"  
  
Jack looked at her and grinned. "You know I like coffee, I'm guessing, But what about those two?"  
  
Venice smiled. "You smell like it. You have to, and it's on your breath so much that I might as well lick coffee beans. Damian hates coffee," He nodded, "And Will smells nothing like it. Also I don't see him as the type."  
  
Will nodded as well. Jack rolled his eyes and asked for cream and sugar in both. Venice said nothing about how he knew.  
  
After paying, the quartet went outside and sat on the curb next to Jack's car. Immediately Venice dug into a Boston cream, sipping her steaming coffee between bites. Jack grinned and helped himself to a powdered donut.  
  
Will and Damian both took a jelly donut, and took turns smearing it on the other's face. The result was multiple, jelly-faced trips back inside for napkins and a lot of stares.  
  
When eight donuts had been eaten, they piled back into Jack's car. Venice suggested going to her and Damian's house, and there they went. 


	5. Unseen Storm

Wow, everyone loves getting on my case about that! LET ME REPEAT!!! I liked the tampon thing from Dead End Angels. THAT'S ALL! Again, I credit the author! It's her idea! I just found what I thought was an interesting way to incorperate it later on! Patience everyone! I'm not trying to be like another story! *pants*  
  
Oh, and the last chapter seemed a little pointless, I realize. It's setting the stage people. Setting the stage. Still doing a bit of that here, but there's gunna be a fun cliffhanger!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Venice and Damian had a large house with a two-car garage and at least three floors. They lived in a community called Mist Hills, for the very specific reason that the near-by bay always spritzered them with mist on warm days and cold nights. And Will couldn't help but notice the very particular car next door. . .  
  
"Venice, you live next to Liz Swann?" He asked, forgetting Liz's earlier comments about their relationship.  
  
She glared at Will like it was a mortal sin to mention such a thing, and Will stepped back a little.  
  
Damian stepped between them immediately. "Ladies. . . lady, and gentlemen. . . Yes, we do, but Venice tries desperately to avoid interaction."  
  
"Can you blame me? She's a eunuch!" Venice spat onto the ground and stepped backwards. Jack suddenly heard a tinkling noise, subconsciously remembering hearing it before.  
  
Damian rolled his eyes. "You can't call a woman a eunuch."  
  
"You can if she's really a man!"  
  
Jack stepped in. "Liz Swann is NOT a man unless she is a Gay Fem that should get a sex change."  
  
Venice's mouth popped shut. Will giggled, but his mouth, too, popped shut after receiving a second evil glare.  
  
Damian cut through the tension. "Let's go inside and eat one more donut."  
  
He led them all through the neatly trimmed grass and up to the door, ignoring the stepping stones and the sign that said "Please Stay Off Grass". As the stepped up to the door, which was taller than two of them together and a rich, cherry-wood red, Venice fished around her pockets and produced a shiny silver key.  
  
Finally inside, Damian and Venice immediately lead the two boys upstairs, which was no mediocre task. The stairs were winding and steep, and they had to go up to the third floor to reach the rooms. Then all the way down to the hall to where Venice's and Damian's rooms sat across from each other.  
  
First they stopped into Damian's room, which they were surprised to see had a dumbwaiter in it. Jack found this immensely entertaining and they spent nearly half an hour pulling each other up and down the shaft.  
  
Finally, Damian threw a pile of blankets from his bed into it, and then a few pillows, and hoisted it up. He ignored Jack and Will's questioning looks and proceeded straight across the hall to Venice's room.  
  
It was different from Damian's room, much different. Damian's room was painted dark blue with forest green trim, and matching plaid sheets on his bed. He had a light-colored carpet, and a maple-wood set of furniture for his room, then a closet, a stereo on his desk, and not much else. There weren't many decorations, except for the pictures in the corner, and a few posters that said philosophical ideas and things like IMRU?, then he had some basic lights and christmas-lights around his ceiling, but that was basically it.  
  
Venice's room, on the other hand, was entirely black, with a black ceiling, black carpeting, and black walls. Her bedspread was black with silver, glow in the dark moons and stars on it. She had movie posters on the wall, drawings, paintings, and sketches she had done herself, tons of songs and poems on the wall, play-production posters, crystals, canvases, stickers, and dream catchers. Her desk was covered in styrofoam coffee cups and M&M wrappers, and on her floors along the walls were piles of books, folders, notebooks, and sketchbooks. Most of the wall opposite her door was bookcases, except for two windows that were covered in black curtains with glittery threads. There was a laptop on her desk as well, and a giant stereo set on one shelf of the bookcases. In front of the stereo sat a few piles of CD's and tapes, and even a few records.  
  
She popped on the lamp that was designed in India in the opposite corner of her room. Chimes and bells rang as the rest of the group walked through the door. Jack recognized the tinkling noise again. Every time Venice stepped. He remembered it from going up the stairs as well, though then he hadn't thought much of it.  
  
Venice then turned on her stereo, and the calming sounds of someone Jack and Will didn't recognize came through the surround-sound speakers mounted in the corners.  
  
Jack looked about, then grinned when he saw, through an open closet door, a box of tampons identical to the one that now hung in their locker. He made a mental note of this.  
  
Venice sat down and broke the silence. "So, you like it?"  
  
Will thought, Liked it? It was beautiful, full of exotic things and art and emotion. It was very Venice. He nodded.  
  
"Jack? Do you?"  
  
Jack looked about. "It's so very. . . you." He fingered a satiny pillow on Venice's bed. "Who is this, singing?"  
  
Venice looked up, her pupils wide in her purple eyes in the dim room. "Damian Rice. . . a new CD," She grinned, "Damian likes him just because they share names."  
  
Jack snorted and laughed. Will laughed playfully, and Damian gave Venice his best "Now WHY did you just say that?" look. He loosened up, though, when Will sauntered over and they brushed hands. Jack plopped down on Venice's bed, which he found to be surprisingly soft.  
  
"Hmmm. . . I like your bed."  
  
The entire group eyed him, and Venice voiced what everyone was thinking. "Is it really my bed you like, or just what could happen in it?"  
  
For the first time in a long time, Jack blushed. Will laughed at him, and Damian grinned. Venice raised her eyebrows in impatience for the response. She sighed, then pushed him off the edge of the bed. Gathering up her own bed sheets, she looked to Damian and said, "Why don't you and Will run upstairs? Clear out the dumbwaiter and lower it back down, and we'll pull this stuff up then come up."  
  
Damian nodded and pulled Will away before he could ask any questions. Jack, however, had the time.  
  
"Why are we going upstairs, with bedsheets none-the-less?" He asked as they crossed the hallway and Venice dropped blankets onto the floor in front of the empty dumb-waiter shaft. She quickly ran back and returned with pillows.  
  
"We're going upstairs because the attic is me and Damian's recreation room. We have a pool table, and a wide screen TV up there, and a few old couches and tons of movies. . ."  
  
Venice rambled on a little about what they had upstairs, and Jack watched the shaft absent-mindedly for the dumbwaiter to return.  
  
Venice stopped, realizing that Jack wasn't paying attention. A little annoyed at his distraction, she walked up to him and rubbed her body gently against his.  
  
Jack jumped back, out of his space-casing. Venice grinned, and he grinned back, stepping back up to her and wrapping his arms around her waist. . .  
  
Just as Venice snuggled in for a kiss, the creaky dumbwaiter clunked into place, empty except for a piece of paper.  
  
Jack picked it up and read it aloud. "Take your time."  
  
Venice laughed and piled the blankets and pillows into the dumbwaiter, then yanked it up. "Sounds tempting."  
  
"Sounds suspicious, you mean! I wonder what they're doing. . ." Jack said as he walked to the door.  
  
Venice threw the scrap of paper into Damian's garbage can and caught Jack's wrist before he turned into the hallway.  
  
He looked at her curiously. She grinned a sexy smile and said, "Who cares?"  
  
Jack caught on and let her lead him into her bedroom, where she lit some candles. The room, which Jack suddenly realized already smelled strongly of vanilla, increased the strong scent and made him almost woozy. He sat on the bed again, and Venice flipped onto a sensual song by Enya.  
  
Jack watched as she slinked over to the bed, which now had only a blanket and two or three pillows. She sat down besides him and Jack wasted no time in leaning over and kissing her tenderly.  
  
~***~  
  
Will and Damian pulled out Venice's blankets from the dumbwaiter, and threw them on the second couch. Then they threw themselves on the first couch, waiting for Jack and Venice to come up and join them.  
  
Kind of.  
  
In all truths they popped in a movie and ignored it, soon wrapped in the soft blue and green flannel bedsheets and each other's arms.  
  
~***~  
  
Venice rested her head on Jack's chest and snuggled deeper under the covers. The wind outside, it seemed, had picked up, and the bedroom's windows creaked and strained. It sounded like there was screaming outside. She felt Jack's heart beat a little faster under her cheek, and looked up.  
  
Her purple eyes were greeted by warm brown eyes, and she smiled. Jack smiled back and kissed her softly, before sitting up.  
  
The wind whistled. "Let's go upstairs," Venice said tenatively. Jack looked a little disappointed, but stood.  
  
"Wait, let me call my sister. She'd spaz on me ten times worse than usual. Stupid women."  
  
Jack caught Venice's hurt look. "Not you love. . . you're more than a woman."  
  
Venice dug around on her desk to find a small cell phone. She turned it on and gave it to Jack, who admired it for a moment before punching in a number and holding it to his ear.  
  
"Hello, Ana?" Pause. "I'm at Damian's house, Damian and Venice's." Pause. "I might be. If I don't come home tonight you know where I am."  
  
There was a long pause. "You're serious? Liz Swann is visiting? Erk! I'm staying here." Pause. "She's coming? And you want me to give her directions?"  
  
Jack scowled, and Venice giggled. He waggled a finger at her, then said, "Yes, she lives next door but," Pause, "Fine. You better have coffee tomorrow night."  
  
Jack hung up. "Erm, Liz needs directions to get to my place. I have to run next door quickly. I'll be right back."  
  
Venice's face fell. "Fine. Just come up to the attic when you return."  
  
Venice ran up the last flight of stairs and walked into the attic room, sitting down on a pile of blankets and ignoring the two boys on the other couch. Another movie was playing.  
  
After a few minutes of boredom and some rather disturbing gasps from Will and her brother, Venice ran downstairs to get popcorn and a two-liter bottle of soda. Outside it had suddenly gotten dark.  
  
Dark? But it was only 5:45. It shouldn't be getting dark.for maybe another 20 minutes or so. It had to be a storm. 'That one snuck up on me,' Venice thought as she pulled a large bottle of Dr. Pepper out of the fridge.  
  
Walking out of the kitchen and about to begin the task of her stairwell, Venice heard the door creak open beside her.  
  
The wind blew in, and over Jack's body, which was slumped onto the floor. 


	6. The Next Morning

Venice ran upstairs to get Damian. He looked rather ruffled when he first parted from Will and glanced up, but Damian was no one to be called thick, and noticed her expression right away.  
  
He and Will gasped when they came downstairs.  
  
Jack Sparrow lie on his stomach in an open doorway, wet, ripped up, and bloody. It looked like he had been in a fight. Venice froze upon seeing him again. She froze and backed up the stairs, slipping away unseen.  
  
Almost. Will noticed how she slipped back, and while Damian looked over Jack, who was unconscious, followed her.  
  
Back to her room, he snaked through the door into the blacklight's shadow. Venice jumped.  
  
"Are you ok?" Will asked.  
  
She stared at him with an expression that said, "What do you think, fucktart?" but said nothing.  
  
"Don't look at me like that. Are you ok?"  
  
"No, I'm not!"  
  
"Why did you run off? I've never really thought of you like that."  
  
"Well you never really knew me."  
  
"You didn't answer my question," Will said patiently.  
  
Venice stood and brushed herself off. She scratched under her sleeve and Will caught a glimpse of blue markings on her upper arm.  
  
Will noticed them, though didn't know what they were. He thought back. Any time he had seen Venice, he couldn't remember her wearing short sleeves. No wonder he had never seen them.  
  
"What are those blue things?"  
  
Venice choked. "Erm. . . doodles. I have a doodling problem. . . you know, that whole artist thing," she said, lying as smoothely as she could.  
  
Will didn't believe her, but nodded and went downstairs. He smiled slightly when he realized Venice followed.  
  
As Jack and Damian came into view, Venice stopped and gasped. Though Jack was awake and upright, he was bloodied and bruised and rather roughed- up. Will noticed that Venice stopped and was starting to back up, and quickly turned and grabbed her wrists.  
  
He pulled her up to him and whispered, "Jack needs you."  
  
Tears welled up in her eyes. She looked down and said, "Jack needs a hospital, not me."  
  
"Well her wanted you then."  
  
Venice looked up, shook her hands free, and backed up a little more.  
  
She ran down the stairs, suddenly, past Will and down to Jack's black and blue arms. Over Venice's shoulders, Will and Damian caught Jack's tear- filled eyes.  
  
Venice kissed Jack lightly, carefully cradling him in her arms. Damian stood and let Venice place Jack's head on her lap, and then he went and stood with Will. After a few moments of awkward silence, the two boys went upstairs, leaving Venice and Jack alone.  
  
Venice stroked the braids out of Jack's face, lightly brushing a bump on his head. He winced.  
  
"Jack, what happened?"  
  
He groaned. Venice realized now was not the time.  
  
She also realized that the place to stay was not on the cold floor of the foyer. Venice stood slowly and said, "C'mon love, let's head upstairs."  
  
Jack nodded lazily, and allowed her to help him up. The stairs were miserable for him, but eventually they made it to the attic with it's comfy couches and the blankets and pillows spread out ahead of time.  
  
Conveniently, the one Jack layed on was the one that rolled down into a full bed, and he and Venice layed together in the dark.  
  
Damian and Will came up shortly after the two became situated and passed out on the other couch together.  
  
Venice didn't stir when she heard them. She intended to question Jack alone, but she stopped herself. Jack was in no condition to answer questions, was he? She'd have to wait until morning.  
  
~***~  
  
Damian yawned as the sunlight hit his face. He accidently woke Will up while rolling off the couch and cracking his back, and a realization hit him.  
  
Actually, two.  
  
The first one was that Jack and Venice had slept together. In fact, so had he and Will. Damian grinned a little bit at this.  
  
The second was that Will had never called home. He made a point of telling Will this when the boy sat up.  
  
"Will, you didn't call home last night. . ."  
  
Will's face fell. "Not much of a home to call. Dad was probably drunk anyway. . ."  
  
Damian dropped the subject. He didn't need the most obvious hints to guess that Will's dad hit him. . . in fact, while Jack and Venice were alone downstairs, he had accidently seen a black and blue mark right below Will's collar bone.  
  
They went downstairs in silence, not disturbing the sleeping duo on the couch one over.  
  
~***~  
  
Jack woke up, surprised to see Venice delicately curled up in his arms. He moved to the side a little and gasped. . . never was he so stiff before. He saw the bruises on his arms and chest first.  
  
What the hell happened last night?  
  
Venice stirred. She blinked like a kitten and sat up, stretching. Finally she remembered that Jack was next to her.  
  
She eyed the bruises on his arms and chest. She had taken his shirt off last night and it now lay neatly folded by the sofa.  
  
"Geezes, Jack," She said, fingering the bruises gingerly, "You scared the fuck out of me."  
  
"What happened?" Jack said, relatively awake because of the jolt of pain he received whenever he moved.  
  
Venice's eyebrows furrowed. "I was hoping you'd know."  
  
~***~  
  
Jack and Venice appeared in the kitchen doorway, where Damian and Will sat eating Lucky Charms. Damian smiled cheerfully and said, "'Ello, morning, how are you all?"  
  
Jack raised an eyebrow at him and pulled Venice up to him. "He isn't always like this in the morning, is he?" He asked Venice, staring alienatingly at Damian's bright smile.  
  
Venice giggled as whole-heartedly as she could at 9:00 in the morning. "'Fraid so, love. You get used to it."  
  
Jack shook his head. "No," He mumbled, "No, I'd never get used to THAT!"  
  
Will laughed and sugary milk shot out his nose. Damian snorted with laughter as he handed Will a towel and a tissue. Venice sat down at the table, and pulled a chair up close to her for Jack to sit down in.  
  
She took the napkin from her place (it was always layed out for breakfast the night before) and wiped up a few remaining spots from the glass surface in front of her and Jack. Then she took two bowls that Damian had pulled out for the two of them and handed one to Jack, picking up the cereal simultaneously with the other hand. She watched as the marshmellows and sugar-coated bits fell into her blue bowl, hypnotized, before handing it solemnly to Jack.  
  
Jack busied himself with pouring his own cereal before realizing that Venice was picking the marshmellows out of the bowl and putting them on the placemat around it.  
  
Except for the blue horseshoes. Those she left in.  
  
Damian caught Jack's look, and grinned. "She's done that for ages, since she first had them."  
  
Jack raised an eyebrow. "And just randomly leaves the blue ones in?"  
  
Damian grinned and shrugged. Jack soon bored of Venice's tireless marshmellow picking and looked at the leprechaun on the cereal box.  
  
"What a little cunt he looks like," Jack said to no one in particular. Will looked at him and smiled.  
  
"He's a leprechaun. . . be nice to him and he'll give you lots of money."  
  
Jack stared forlornly at Will before looking to Venice. She was done seperating the marshmellows and now poured the milk in.  
  
She took two spoons from by the bowls had been laid out and gave one to Jack. It didn't take long for him to realize that though the spoon she had given him was normal, she herself was using a tiny coffee spoon.  
  
Jack looked back to Damian, who shrugged. "She isn't through yet."  
  
Will and Jack glanced at each other.  
  
And Damian, of course, was right. When Venice finished the tedious task of eating her marshmellow-deprived cereal, she drank the milk straight from the bowl, then got up and went to the refridgerator.  
  
She dug around for a moment, then re-emerged with a white, plastic container in her hand; raspberry yogurt.  
  
After opening it carefully, she picked up all the red balloons and put them in, then the clovers and rainbows, hearts, stars, moons, and pots of gold in, mixing it between each separate type of marshmellows.  
  
During this entire time she had been totally silent and focused, but Jack broke in to her procedure.  
  
"Ok. . . I'm just going to ignore most of that.but I do have one question."  
  
Venice looked at him with wide, innocent eyes.  
  
"Why do the blue ones stay in the cereal?"  
  
Her eyes widened and she looked around. She leaned importantly into Jack and whispered, "Because they taste bad in the yogurt."  
  
Slowly she pulled back, and responded to Jack's questioning look with a solemn nod, staring him straight in the eyes before going back to her yogurt.  
  
Which, he noticed, she ate with a different spoon.  
  
Jack rolled his eyes and looked towards Damian. "Your sister is insane."  
  
Venice nodded eagerly at the reference to herself.  
  
"Does she know that all of them taste the same?" Will asked, staring at her robotic actions.  
  
Damian nodded. "Yup."  
  
Will's mouth opened to start another question, but Jack kicked him under the table and gave him a look that said, "Just shut up, love."  
  
Jack looked at the marshmellows and saw that a bit of a blue horseshoe was in the bottom of Venice's bowl.  
  
He looked at her arm, where the sleeve was a little rolled back, revealing a touch of blue. And he saw that they were the same blue. 


	7. Oops

At noon, the four teens finally realized that there was school today. Will was the one who pointed it out as they sat in front of the large screen TV in the attic.  
  
As Dora the Explorer got out of the boat, Will said, "Dude. . . What day is today."  
  
Jack opened his mouth to answer automatically, but stopped, realizing exactly what Will was saying. He laughed.  
  
Damian and Venice looked at the two of them, oblivious, until Venice said, "Um. . . wednes. . . oh shit."  
  
Damian laughed, "Dude. . . I don't think Norrington's going to dig us skipping the second day of school."  
  
Will frowned a little, but loosened up when Damian said, "It's cool though, me and Venice have done this dozens of times. It's not too hard."  
  
Jack eyed them, "What's not too hard?"  
  
"Getting away with it," Damian said, ignoring the questioning looks he received. "See, ten bucks says Ana covered for you already, Jack. Probably said you were sick."  
  
Jack nodded. Ana did usually do stuff like that, otherwise SHE was questioned, and she hated that.  
  
"And Norrington obviously knew you two ran off yesterday, so it's safe to assume you were doing something, especially from his point of view. Thus, Venice is sick too."  
  
Venice nodded, too, absentmindedly. Dora the Explorer had captivated her with her cute Spanish talking.  
  
"Our parents are out of town," Damian said, gesturing to himself and Venice, "So I had to stay home to take care of her. She wasn't feeling well at all," He said with a mischevious, playful mock face of concern.  
  
Will listened carefully. "But what about me? I don't have much of an excuse!"  
  
"Death in the family. Some discreet great aunt or something. You were in Memphis, Tennessee all day."  
  
Will raised an eyebrow. "Oh please! That's ridiculous, he's going to be all over me!" He rubbed his shoulder, and wondered for a moment where his shirt had gotten to. He hadn't seen it since last night.  
  
Damian rolled his eyes. "Then get creative. If he questions you, tear up a bit and say that you've been through enough all accusingly, then take your seat and put your head in your hands."  
  
Will stared at him, "I'm no actor. I'll overdue it."  
  
"That's fine," Venice said, awakening from her Dora spell. "Play it up, the more hurt you act the better it is."  
  
Will gave up. Jack, who had been listening carefully, said, "Yeah, and it doesn't seem too planned out, either. Venice and I ran off and she got sick from me, Damian stayed home to take care of her. Will went to a funeral. It's not like we're all connected or anything. . . it seems natural."  
  
Damian nodded. "Plus Will doesn't have much of a social connection to us yet. Nothing to suspect. No teachers have really seen us together and all. . ."  
  
Will put his head in his hands. "What am I getting myself into?"  
  
~***~  
  
Dora the Explorer ended and Venice grew bored extremely quickly. In fact, at 12:31, she announced it to the group.  
  
"I'm bored."  
  
Jack looked at her. "Congradulations. Would you like a cookie?"  
  
Damian snorted, but Venice spaced out a little bit and said, "Cookies sound good. . ."  
  
She stood up and went to the stairs. In attempt to go down them, she slipped and landed on her butt. Will laughed at her.  
  
"Slick," Was all Jack could say.  
  
"I like to think so," Venice said as she stood. She went down the stairs and into her room, closely followed by Jack.  
  
"Excuse me, I'm changing."  
  
"Thanks for the announcement, love, I concluded that already," Jack said without moving.  
  
Venice gave him an evil glare. But a mischevious look passed over her face. Jack grew suspicious when she didn't ask him to leave.  
  
Venice turned around and took off her shirt, shrugging. "Alright then, stay," She said quietly.  
  
After a few more articles of clothing were removed and Venice's long hair taken down, Jack couldn't help but get hot and bothered about the situation. He swayed from side to side and began to whistle.  
  
Then he got it.  
  
She was strip-teasing him!  
  
Jack stared at her, and she turned to face him with suggestive eyes. He threw up his hands in defeat. "DAMN YOU WOMAN!" Was all he got out before storming out of the room and heading straight and undeterably to the bathroom.  
  
He plowed through Damian and Will, who came down the steps looking a tad ruffled up. Their hair was messed and clothes were crooked, and Jack might've thought something along the lines of, "I bet if Will was a woman Damian would have lipstick in places I'd rather not think about," But he was in too much of a hurry to get to the bathroom.  
  
Damian stared at Jack as he ran by holding his crotch. Will gave him a questioning look and all he said was, "Striptease."  
  
Will picked up on what he meant rather quickly, and nodded solemnly.  
  
As the duo walked up to Damian's room, Damian popped into Venice's room, but was disappointed to see she wasn't there. He sulked into his room, but his face lit up when he caught view of Will waiting on the soft, sheetless bed half naked.  
  
~***~  
  
Jack went back to Venice's room after his little. . . excursion. . . and walked in, about to talk, when he realized she wasn't there. And low and behold, his mischevious eyes wondered to the box of tampons. . .  
  
~***~  
  
Venice popped around downstairs until she found a box of cookies with a little elf on it. She laughed at the name. . . Keebler. . . because she was just a little loopier than usual that morning and it just seemed like a perverted word to her.  
  
The cookies were chocolate chip-M&M, and Venice immediately sat down at the same place on the table she ate breakfast at and began to pick the M&M's out. Except, of course, for the blue ones.  
  
After she had de-M&Med three cookies, Jack came down looking smug. Venice decided not to say anything about his look and continued picking away at M&M's. Where had Jack seen that shirt before? He pushed it to the back of his mind, but wasn't comfortable with the fact that Venice had a guy's shirt on that wasn't his.  
  
Jack stared at her, then the package of cookies. "Stupid little cunts. . . why can't they use cool guys or like porn pictures for product characters?" He shuddered. "Just like the fucking leprechaun."  
  
Venice looked up and yelled, "Hey, I DON'T LIKE THAT FUCKING LANGUAGE!" before she collapsed into herself and broke down laughing.  
  
Jack just stared at her until she recovered, and even then she simply went back to picking apart her cookies unemotionally. And he couldn't help but think, "What a weird chick."  
  
Minutes later, Damian and Will resurfaced, Will still without a shirt and scratching the back of his head. "Has anyone seen my shirt?"  
  
Venice looked down for a moment, looked up, and blushed.  
  
Will looked at her. She stuttered, "Dude, it was in my room!"  
  
Jack nodded omnisciently. "So THAT's where you two wondered off to. . ."  
  
It was Will and Damian's turn to blush.  
  
Will changed to spotlight to Venice. "So can I have my shirt back?"  
  
Venice pouted and clutched it to her chest. Will rolled his eyes and Jack got a little jealous. "You can wear mine if you need someone elses shirt, love."  
  
Venice perked up and started to take off her shirt right there. Jack stopped her right away. "NO! None of THAT again without some following fun."  
  
Damian eyed Jack in a over-protective big-brother manner, and Jack stepped back a little bit. "So. . . there'll be none. . . of that," Jack improvised. Damian nodded curtly.  
  
Venice shrugged and took off her. . . or rather Will's shirt, revealing a soft stomach and a black bra. She threw it to Will, and looked expectantly towards Jack, who looked appreciatively at her for a moment before handing her his hoody. She put it on and snuggled into it right away.  
  
The room went quiet for a moment, when suddenly they heard a loud bang on the door. 


	8. Old Habits Die Hard

This is a little short. But a lot happens. Lots of Will for all you Will- lovers out there. . . and I'm writing as fast as I can! Please read and review and I'll write even faster!  
  
If you have anything that's not really a review, email me! Poisenivy666@yahoo.com. . . questions are really good to send here!  
  
Theme of the day: old habits die hard! Thus the title of the chapter. . . it'll make even more sense later when I explain some more about the blue stuff. . .  
  
So thanks for all this great positive reinforcement. . . if you want more review for me! ~big kissy face~  
  
It's going to get heavy in reference to slashiness for a little while near the end. No flames or I will use them for humor in the plot line of my story!  
  
Oh, coming up in future chapters: reference to Eddie Izzard! If you want to do some preresearch, look him up. He's a stand up comedian, has a website. But I'm building around some things that he said.don't worry.it'll make sense even if you don't look him up. Just not as much.  
  
Xw0kenn0wX: I love you! Teehee. . . that must have been my favorite two reviews of all time! Thanks!  
  
IheartWillTurner: this one's partially for you. . . though it was coming anyway (. Elizabeth's coming way into play soon. . . and I'm setting the stage.  
  
Argentinean Beauty: ~stumbles back from surprise of the review~ wow. . . that was really nice! Surprised me. . . lol. Thanks!  
  
IdentityCrisis: thanks for the rating thing. . . I must've made a mistake with it. Love ya!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Everyone looked at each other.  
  
The doorbell rang, this time. No one moved.  
  
"Who would be ringing at this time of the day?" Venice asked. All their friends were in school, all the adults at work.  
  
Damian shrugged. "Probably the UPS man. Go get it."  
  
Venice frowned, but got up. Jack went with her. For some reason, no one was uncomfortable with the repeated ringings.  
  
Venice peeked out the window next to the door to see a retreating figure with long blond hair. She opened the door. "Can I help you?"  
  
The girl turned around.  
  
It was Elizabeth Swann.  
  
She ran up to the house. As Liz neared them, Venice realized with horror that she looked like she had been thrown in a blender. Her clothes were ripped up, hair messed and loosened from the preppy pony-tail she usually wore. She clutched a jacket to her chest and her arms were scraped up horribly.  
  
"What in hell happened to you," Venice said, catching the collapsing girl.  
  
Liz began to weep, and Jack stepped in, picking her up and bringing her inside. Venice closed the door quietly and yelled, "Damian!"  
  
Damian walked in with a fresh bowl of Lucky Charms in his first hand and a spoon in the other. He nearly dropped them when he saw Liz, now on the couch, sobbing.  
  
"Not again," he mumbled, distressed. He put the bowl on the end table and kneeled beside her. For a moment, he looked her over, then sharply looked to Will and said, "Will, get ice from the refridgerater, then paper towels and a large basin of water. Venice, go with him." He notice that Jack began to stand. "Not you Jack, you stay."  
  
Jack frowned and stood, but instead of wandering out to the kitchen he walked over to Damian.  
  
"Jack, what happened to her?"  
  
Jack's face fell in confusion. "How the hell should I know? You aren't. . . accusing. . . ME. . . of. . . that?"  
  
Damian shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous. You'd be out of here if I had any suspicion you did this. No, you just came back last night with the same kinds of cuts and bruises. What happened, Jack?"  
  
Jack sighed. "I don't know."  
  
~***~  
  
Will and Venice moved around rapidly in the spacey kitchen. Will made up ice packs while Venice got paper towls and the water bowl. Venice's hands trembled, causing her long hoody sleeves to slip away from her wrists.  
  
Will noticed this right away. And it didn't take much for him to see the blue markings again. Quickly he put the ice pack down and walked over to Venice, grabbing her wrist.  
  
"What are they?" He demanded.  
  
Venice tried to back away, but Will held her firmly. The struggle went on until Venice gave a final hard yank, tripping backwards and knocking over the bowl that wasn't yet filled with water.  
  
It landed on the ground with a loud, echoing crash.  
  
~***~  
  
Damian scowled. He had intended to weedle an answer out of Jack, but a loud crash sounded from the kitchen, interrupting him.  
  
Jack, on the other hand, was relieved. He stood up immediately to investigate.  
  
Damian looked at Liz, said, "Stay put," Rather unnecessarily, and followed Jack.  
  
In the kitchen Venice was in the corner, holding herself, and Will was at the table with his head in his hand. There was ceramic blue bits scattered on the linoleum floor.  
  
Damian sighed. Jack walked over to Venice, who fell into his arms and cried.  
  
Will stood and walked to Damian. "How is Liz?"  
  
Damian scowled. "She's not going to be doing any better at this rate. What the hell happened HERE?" He gestured to the sharp bits on the floor.  
  
Jack sneered at Damian, and said, "You whelp, can't you see there are more important things going on then a broken bowl?" He looked at Will. "What did you do?"  
  
Will stepped back defensively at Jack's accusing glare. "Nothing! I didn't do. . . she just had something on her arm. I wanted to see, and she freaked."  
  
Damian stepped further from Will. "You didn't."  
  
Will stared, confused and angry. "Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?"  
  
Everyone looked at Venice, who was still crying silently into Jack's chest. Jack stepped away. Will opened his mouth. "What are they, Venice."  
  
She looked to Jack for protection, but he shook his head sadly. It was something she had to do on her own.  
  
"A curse."  
  
Damian suddenly remembered the girl still on the couch. "This is going to have to wait. Liz needs us now."  
  
Venice slumped back down in the corner. Jack looked at her, sighed, and went out to sit with Liz.  
  
~***~  
  
Will finished putting everything together and took it out to Damian, who was waiting quietly and didn't notice him in the doorway. Venice stood and walked out of the kitchen with him, but ran upstairs.  
  
Will looked at the three people in the living room. Jack was passed out, curled up like a cat on the chair. Damian sat and stroked Elizabeth's forehead, and the girl was halfway to a destination of unconsciousness.  
  
Will couldn't help but be torn between the two people sitting there. Elizabeth. . . his old crush. Damian. . . his gay lover?  
  
Maybe he was a little jealous as well. Jealous that Damian's attention was on Elizabeth. Jealous that every time her eyes opened, Liz looked at Damian. Will stood in the arch of a doorway, and his heart split.  
  
Could someone love a guy and a girl at the same time?  
  
Was Will even gay?  
  
He shook his head. Maybe, maybe not. But old habits did die hard.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hope everyone likes! R AND R!!! I'll stay up all night Thursday if I have to write if you do!  
  
Otherwise I'll be lazy and go to sleep. . . this is how much I love you guys! So review!  
  
~runs away humming "kukubera sits in the old gum tree, eating all the gumdrops he can see." etc.~ 


	9. Anger

uWow. . .what a lucky author am I to have these great reviews. . .  
  
Thanks josie! Kookaburra. . . hmm. . . proves what I know, lol.  
  
No problem, Jacksrumrunner  
  
The Cap'nOfTheBlackPearl- lots of reviews from you! Thanks!  
  
Argentinian Beauty-Always look forward to your reviews. . . *big cheesy four-year-old smile*  
  
Teenaged Banshee- thanks for this awesome review. . . it was my biggest hope to make Venice and Damian easy to relate to. . . so I'm glad you feel that way.  
  
Love you all! KEEP REVIEWING!  
  
Oh. . . hmmm. . . I promised to write even faster. . . and I LOVED my reviews. . .should be up by Thursday night, then maybe Saturday or Sunday 10 will be up.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Will's thoughts were interrupted by a scream. Then a high pitched, "JACK!"  
  
Jack's eyes widened. Damian glared at him. Will rushed upstairs, and the other two followed closely behind.  
  
The three boys rushed into Venice's room, seeing Venice standing towards them in front of her closet doors, arms spread out and foot tapping impatiently.  
  
"Jack Sparrow!"  
  
They looked behind the girl, and couldn't help but snort with laughter. Hanging from the closet doors were about two dozen tampons, taped up in the shape of a smiley face, each with smiley faces on them.  
  
Jack stepped forward with his best apologetic face on and said, "Now, love, you. . ."  
  
But Venice cut him off with a hard slap across his face. His head and neck spun around, and he looked back at Damian and Will.  
  
"I don't think I deserved that."  
  
~***~  
  
Jack stormed off angrily. Will followed closely as he went down to check on Elizabeth, mumbling how some girls were much more laid back than others.  
  
Damian looked at Venice, who had plopped down on the floor and put her head in her hands.  
  
"It was just a joke, V." Damian shook his head.  
  
Venice stared at him before standing up and heading down to the kitchen.  
  
~***~  
  
Jack sat back onto the couch. Venice was terribly annoyed with him, and he hid his emotions by acting annoyed with her. Liz was under a blanket on the couch, Damian was passed out on the floor below the couch, Will was staring at them emptily, and Venice was in the kitchen.  
  
Jack sighed and flopped over. Will looked at him. "What's up?"  
  
"Nothin', Will. Just, Venice is mad at me now."  
  
Will nodded and shrugged. "She'll get over it. It was only a little prank."  
  
Damian stirred. "That's what you get for falling for an actress."  
  
"Actress?" Wil and Jack asked simulateously.  
  
"Yup," Damian said tiredly, "Actress. Since she was. . . what? Eight?"  
  
Jack stared at him. "What is she, Super Artist Girl or something?"  
  
"Oh THAT was clever," Will said sarcastically.  
  
Damian rolled his eyes and went back to sleep.  
  
Jack shrugged. That explained a lot.  
  
~***~  
  
James Norrington sat at his desk and looked at the attendence sheet in front of him. He didn't know what to think.  
  
Jack Sparrow, Damian and Venice Spade, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann were all absent. He looked at the note he took down from what Anamaria Sparrow had said first thing that morning. Her brother was sick.  
  
Well, that could happen, Norrington guessed. He had been coughing yesterday.  
  
And James had thought it was smoker's cough. . .  
  
Then he and the Spade girl went off after lunch, no doubt ending up in a liplock. So the excuse sent in by Damian Spade made sense. That excuse was that she was sick with a nasty cough and fever. Made sense. . .  
  
The Spade's parents were out on a business trip, apparently, as well. It was in a note sent back with the medical papers. So Damian had to stay home and take care of his sister, or so he said. Also made sense.  
  
Then Will Turner. Seemingly not really related in any way to the other three. A death in the family? That could happen, but it seemed rather convenient. Looking at Turner's records, though, he couldn't see the boy skipping school. He was nearly always in class; only two days was he out in his junior year. He didn't think Turner was one to suspect.  
  
The only thing was his talking to Damian Spade, then disappearing later in the day. The boy's locker was right next to Norrington's room, and James didn't see him walking through the hallways. Nor did he see Damian.  
  
It wasn't enough to make James suspect anything, though. He let it slide.  
  
But the greatest enigma was Elizabeth Swann. She wouldn't skip, or at least he highly doubted she would, but there was no excuse yet sent in. Swann was the mayor's daughter. . . she wouldn't dare endanger her father's reputation.  
  
Intuition told James Norrington that something was amiss. But with no proof, his logic overruled and the teacher overlooked the conveniences.  
  
~***~  
  
Venice sat on the counter and lit a cigarette. She hadn't smoked in a long time, but she still had a pack lying around. She toyed with her lighter as she took a long drag and blew smoke rings at the ceiling. Venice remembered when Josh Gibbs taught her how to do that.  
  
The windows in her kitchen were open, and she listened as the blinds clinked together and the birds chirped outside. The digital clock on the stove to her right said 1:00.  
  
Venice took another drag and sighed. Why did Jack seem to be paying so much more attention to Elizabeth? Why was he being so immature? Why was he siding with Will over her? She couldn't stand it, for some reason. She was jealous.  
  
Venice heard the three boys in the living room begin to talk, then fall silent again. Then the couch creaked, and Jack walked into the kitchen.  
  
He stared at her. "What are you doing?"  
  
"What does it look like, you retard? Smoking."  
  
Jack rolled his eyes, then walked up to her and snatched it out of her mouth. "Don't be stupid."  
  
"How is it stupid? YOU do it! Hypocrite."  
  
"That's not my point," Jack said, sighing, "You can't smoke."  
  
Venice grew angry, "Who do you think you are? My father?"  
  
"MAYBE I SHOULD BE!"  
  
"Well you aren't. So back off," Venice said calmly, hiding her anger well. There was an icy bite to her voice.  
  
"What's wrong with you?"  
  
"Wrong with me? What's wrong with you? Smoking? You whelp."  
  
"Let me guess, do as you say, not as you do?" Venice said sardonically. Before Jack could snap back, Venice snapped herself.  
  
"Well get over it! I don't have to listen to you, so why don't you just go away? I don't need you!" She threw up her arms in anger, grabbed her pack of cigarettes and her wallet, and stormed out of the house.  
  
Jack pounded on the counter, then leaned on it and hung his head. Why did Venice have to make things so impossible?  
  
~***~  
  
Damian bounced into consciousness at the sound of the heavy door slamming. Will jumbed up. Liz stirred and blinked awake.  
  
Damian got up and ran out to the kitchen. "Venice, what hap- Jack? Where's V?"  
  
Jack looked up. "I don't know. . ."  
  
He was interrupted by a car starting outside. It wasn't his, the engine sounded a little cleaner than his old Malibu. They heard Will stand up and look through the blinds to the driveway.  
  
From the other room he shouted, "I think Venice just took off in a punchbuggy from across the street. . ."  
  
Jack walked in and looked at Will. "Punchbuggy? Where did you come up with that?"  
  
Will stared at him. "You've never heard of the punchbuggy game?"  
  
"No, I'm isolated, now explain. . ."  
  
Damian cut him off. "Not now! Can we just go find where my sister ran off to? And Jack," He stepped up to the black-garbed eighteen year old sharply, "You are going to tell me what the hell you did."  
  
Jack looked isolantly and pouted.  
  
"Don't give me that. My sister is not an irrational person."  
  
"Yes she is!"  
  
Damian rolled his dark blue eyes. "She isn't. You're just immature and it pisses her off. In fact, it's pissing me off."  
  
Jack didn't respond, but left the big house and went out to his car. Will soon joined him, and Damian even hesitantly strolled out the door.  
  
The gay man leaned on Jack's car. "I'm sorry. . . I'm worried about V and I want to find her before she does anything stupid."  
  
Jack looked straight ahead, but nodded. "I understand. . ." He said carefully.  
  
"Good. Then let's not waste time. Jack, let me drive."  
  
Jack opened his mouth for argument, but Damian said, "You don't know your way around, and giving directions is going to be excrutiatingly annoying."  
  
Jack shook his head, but slid across the front seat and booted Will to the back. "Vamos, mi amigos!"  
  
Damian backed out of the driveway and took off to the first place he could think of his sister going; the pier. 


	10. Tricksy

Only half-way to the pier, Damian realized that in their haste, they had left Elizabeth asleep on the couch. Conveniently, Will's house was coming up on their way, so Damian pulled up to the short driveway and sent Will on his way with a key to his house.  
  
Jack scoffed. "Smooth. Leave Liz."  
  
Damian stared at him. "What's wrong with you?"  
  
"Me? What's wrong with me? What about what's wrong with you?"  
  
"There is nothing, nothing wrong with me. But you need to control your anger."  
  
Jack suddenly broke down. "Where is she? Why did she run?"  
  
Damian turned the final corner. "I don't know, Jack."  
  
~***~  
  
Ana stared absentmindedly at the ceiling of her World History classroom. Liz Swann had never come over, and Ana had been worried, but by the time she realized no one could get so lost as to be two hours late, even by her brother's directions, it was too late to call. Maybe Liz had been sick.  
  
Ana resolved to not only call the Spade residence when she got home, but also the Swann residence.  
  
Liz hadn't been in school either. . . she probably was sick.  
  
~***~  
  
Will unlocked the big cherrywood doors and opened them slowly, flinching at the loud creaks. He walked into the living room to see Liz Swann's eyes beginning to flutter open.  
  
"Will? Where is everyone else?" She asked in a tired voice.  
  
"Out. . . I'm here to take care of you for a little while."  
  
Liz smiled faintly. "Alright," She said quietly before drifting back to sleep.  
  
Will looked at her. Sure, she was a girl, and Damian was his only (or at least he was pretty sure he was his only), but she did look like an angel when she slept. . .  
  
~***~  
  
Damian rolled out of the car and looked around. His short sister wasn't in plain sight, but he had a few good ideas where to look.  
  
Jack didn't even argue as he followed the man in front of him around. For once, he knew that it was time to shut his mouth.  
  
Then walked up to the pier, which was closed, but went onto it anyway. Damian knew how Venice loved to piss of the shore patrol.  
  
And how conveniently were two of them there, patrolling the docks.  
  
They stopped the two boys with a shout. "NO CIVILIANS ON THE PIER!"  
  
Jack spun around to face him. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. If I see one, I'll be sure to let you know." He grabbed Damian's arm and started to walk off.  
  
The two patrollers ran in front of them and stopped them. Jack rolled his eyes, but turned on his charm. "So how is it that two upstanding gentlemen as yourself were stuck on shore patrol, when there is so much more important things to prevent in town?"  
  
The first one blushed. The second one thought about this, then said, "Well, someone has to watch the docks."  
  
Damian inched away. Jack cocked his head. "An honorable task, to be sure," He said, trying to walk around them. The moved over to stop him again.  
  
"It is! Someone has to watch the pier and keep it clean. The lack of pollution is the pride of Port Royale."  
  
Jack nodded thoughtfully, being careful not to watch as Damian rushed down the edge of the dock. "I've heard of one cleaner. Nigh a grain of sand on it. Port Pumpkin."  
  
The first one scoffed. "Port Pumpkin is only in fairytale stories."  
  
The second one looked at him. "No it isn't. I've heard of it before."  
  
"Yes, in fairy tale stories."  
  
Jack watched as the two bickered.  
  
"Not in fairy tales! It's on my map!" And with that the second man pulled out his map and unfolded it, hiding both faces and any view of Jack. He slipped quietly away.  
  
~***~  
  
Jack found Damian crawling down a ladder off the side of the dock, to a sandy beach below. Once both boys were on the ground, Damian lead him to a pile of rocks, then around it.  
  
Behind it was a little cave with a rock chair and a few magazines covered in sand. A sweatshirt was bunched up in the corner. Jack's.  
  
"She was here," Jack pointed out his sweatshirt.  
  
"But for how long, and how long ago?" Damian said. "She probably left. . . with no coverage. Jesus."  
  
Jack delved into the topic. "What are they?"  
  
Damian opened his mouth to argue, but Jack cut him off and said, "No. No excuses. I need to know now."  
  
Damian sighed. "It's a curse, really. When she was younger, she was very sick. At the time my parents were hugely into religion, and believed only a special priest could save her. She was dying. . ." Damian paused, "And the doctors had said she wouldn't live. But we went to this man; he was more of a witchdoctor than a priest, and he burned the marks into Venice's skin. . .i'm not sure what anything meant, because I was the same age, 11. She was actually 10 I believe.  
  
"But there was a problem. A group very against this witchdoctor believed that this would. . . alter Venice. They believed she had to be killed. We've moved dozens of times to escape them. And they know her by two things; her eyes and her markings."  
  
Jack nodded. "She called them angelic markings. . ."  
  
"That's what they are. I'm not sure what area of religion they would come from but. . . anyway. This terrorist group has spies everywhere. We had to change our names. Venice's real name was Paris. For the city she was born in."  
  
"Strange name. Didn't fall far from the original, did we? Both are cities," Jack shrugged, "What was yours?"  
  
"Guy (pronounced Gee. . . it's french). That's how it's supposed to be pronounced. We lived in France for a long time, and when we moved here, no one seemed to get that it was pronounced Gee, not Guy. So for a while I was Guy. But then I was Carter, and James."  
  
Jack nodded again. Though he had no idea what was going on with the religion portion, he understood being chased.  
  
"Well I'm very glad you decided to share an important secret with someone we barely know," sang a soft, melodious voice from above. Venice sat on a ladder up to the pier.  
  
Her hair was down and she had a tank top on that Jack didn't recognize. The dark hair fell in waves around her shoulders and partially hid her face. The baggy pants she was wearing folded over her fat sneakers and she toyed with a hole in the left knee of her pants.  
  
"Ah, Venice!" Damian said lightly, "We we just talking about you."  
  
"And searching for me I see. And don't you mean Paris, Guy?"  
  
Damian rolled his eyes. Jack suddenly realized that he was simply playing his cards in a most strategic way.  
  
"Of course not. Names seem less than permenant around here. So it wouldn't matter much what I called you."  
  
He held up his hand. "Let's see, there's Venice, of course, then Paris. And MaryJane, you loved that one. That was the one you first changed to. And Etta, after Etta James. And what was the last one?"  
  
Personally, Damian knew that her having to say the name would hurt her. There was history with the third name she'd received. "Wasn't it from that movie. . . what was it. . . ?"  
  
Venice jumped off the ladder, landing on her feet surprisingly well. "Vienna. Vienna you idiot."  
  
Damian smirked. She looked like she was going to try and murder him. "From which movie? Wasn't it 'Chocolat'?"  
  
Venice frowned and lunged at Damian, who had anticipated her move. Then he looked to Jack.  
  
"You go up the ladder first, Jack. Make sure she doesn't run off at the top. I'll follow her. Paris, we're going home."  
  
~***~  
  
Elizabeth reawoke with a slight headache and a sharp pain in her shoulder. She groaned and woke Will up, who stretched out his tense back from the odd position he had fallen asleep in on the chair across the room. Elizabeth looked at him. 'God, he's cute when he's tired.'  
  
"Mornin', Will," Liz said, sitting up carefully. "What's for breakfast?"  
  
Will laughed. "We'll find you something."  
  
Will lead her out to the large kitchen, and opened the refridgerator, bending down to look in it. By the time Liz was up close to him, he had closed the fridge door and opened the freezer. After a moment of him looking around, he turned.  
  
And was extremely surprised to see Liz so close. She had been looking over his shoulder, and in fact was just about to point out something, and her arm had landed on Will's shoulder.  
  
Convenient position.  
  
'Wow. . . he has gorgeous eyes,' Liz thought. She caught him glance down at her lips, and took the oppurtunity.  
  
And Will didn't argue. 


	11. Left Alone

OMIFREAKING GOD!!! Everyone is telling me to do different things with Will and Damian and Liz!!! JEEZE!!! Tell you what, go with me for a little while and you'll see what happens.  
  
But thanks for the great reviews!!!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Jack surfaced onto the dock, only partially surprised to see the two shore patrollers standing there.  
  
He coughed something that sounded like 'oh shit', and the two behind him got the message to stop. Jack stood up, brushed himself off, and looked up at the two men.  
  
"Hello mates!" He said cheerfully. The men's faces didn't budge.  
  
"What's your name, and your business in Port Royale?" The first one asked in a snotty tone.  
  
The second one piped up. "And no lies!"  
  
"Smith, or Smithy if you like. And well then, if you don't want any lies, I plan to snatch all of the trash and recycling cans on this dock so no one can throw stuff away and must pollute," (GASP!), "pick up a crew to work with me, and bring them all home and shove them in my basement to play the ultimate game of Trashbasket ball and otherwise drink my weasley black guts out."  
  
"I said no lies!!!" The second one whined.  
  
The first one stared at Jack, and said the second one, "I think he was telling the truth. . ."  
  
"If he were telling the truth, he wouldn't have told us!"  
  
Jack watched this profusely. "Unless, of course, he knew you wouldn't believe the truth even if he told it to you."  
  
~***~  
  
Will and Elizabeth broke apart and Will blushed immensely. Liz looked at him.  
  
"What's wrong, Will?"  
  
"Did you know I was going out with Damian?"  
  
Liz nodded slowly, fearing that she had made a horrible mistake.  
  
"And you knew I was gay."  
  
"Well I just found that out earlier today. . ."  
  
"And is that why you kissed me?"  
  
Liz raised an eyebrow. "What are you TALKING about?"  
  
"You were never interested in me before, Liz. Only when you found out I wasn't available."  
  
Liz looked at him (you know, with THAT LOOK). "William Turner, it's not like you didn't like it!"  
  
She stormed out of the house, only to come back in a few moments later.  
  
Will looked at her inquisitively. She shrugged meekly. "My shoulder hurts and I forgot my shoes," She said quietly.  
  
Will nodded matter-of-factly. Liz stomped up to him, about to slap him, when she made the mistake of looking into his eyes.  
  
Will noticed this. 'Bloody Hell. . . here we go.' "Liz. . . no. . ."  
  
But Liz's lips were planted on his own, and again, Will didn't pull away.  
  
~***~  
  
Venice and Damian slid down the ladder and took off to find the next one. Venice was hesitant to leave Jack.  
  
"Don't worry, V. Jack's a big boy."  
  
For some reason, that brought a very pleasurable picture to Damian's mind. . .  
  
But of Jack?  
  
~***~  
  
Jack watched as the two bickered, yet again, and slipped away, yet again. He rolled his eyes as he broke into a run towards the parking lot, hoping Damian and Venice. . . or whatever their names were. . . would go there too.  
  
They weren't there when Jack stopped at his car, panting. He crawled into the back seat and curled up, quickly falling asleep.  
  
When he woke up, he was stretched out, and rather surprised to see Venice sitting on his lower stomach and. . . other areas. This conscious fact caused him to. . . harden up, so to speak.  
  
He caught Venice smile. "D, he's awake."  
  
Damian, who had been looking at her through the mirror and knew she hadn't looked down, asked, "How can you tell?"  
  
Venice just smirked. Damian got the idea right away, and again a very interesting picture came to Damian's mind. Damian shook his head.  
  
"Morning, Jack," He said as nonchalantly as he could.  
  
Jack pushed out, "'Ello" in a breath, before Venice stretched out over him and kissed him. Jack didn't argue.  
  
Damian laughed and drove them home.  
  
~***~  
  
Will wasn't sure how it happened, but he and Liz were on the couch right now, and his hands had wondered rather far.  
  
But he only thought about this for a moment before disappearing into his own brand of ecstasy.  
  
So far into ecstasy, that he didn't hear a car pull up. He didn't hear Venice yell, "Damnit, I drove to the pier too, and forgot my damn car."  
  
Outside, Jack stared at her. "How do you forget your car?"  
  
Venice glared at him. Damian rolled his eyes and walked towards the door.  
  
Inside, Damian slipped his shoes off and threw Jack's keys on a hook by the door. He looked out the window, and smiled at Venice and Jack bickering. It made him think of Will, so he went into the den to check on both Will and Elizabeth.  
  
And what he saw made his heart fall into his stomach.  
  
~***~  
  
"JACK YOU STUPID CUNT!!! I DO NOT HAVE AN UGLY CAR!"  
  
"Yes ye do! Matches your ugly personality!"  
  
Venice smacked him then looked at him impudently.  
  
"I don't think I deserved that."  
  
They were quiet. And they realized that everything was. . . even inside the house.  
  
"Don't you think Damian and Will would be talking?" Venice asked.  
  
"Not loud 'nough to hear over us, or to wake Liz, savvy?"  
  
Venice bit her lip thoughtfully. "Let's go in."  
  
"Wha. . . Nevermind." Jack was learning quickly not to question Venice. She was usually right anyway.  
  
The two came in just in time to see Damian running upstairs. "What the. . . ooh. . ." Venice said, as she saw Will on top of Elizabeth, both of them looking up at Jack and Venice with 'uh-oh' faces. Venice glared at Will, then Elizabeth, than ran upstairs after her brother.  
  
Jack stared at them and shrugged. "Not that ye aren't a good couple. . . just Will here is supposed to be gay, and taken. And you, Liz, you knew. That's not cool. "  
  
He walked out of the room. Will looked at Elizabeth and got up, following Jack sullenly. Liz was left alone.  
  
~***~  
  
Venice walked tentatively up behind her brother and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He didn't turn around from his position looking out the window. "What?"  
  
"D, Will didn't mean anything."  
  
He snorted.  
  
Venice shrugged. "You know what it's like becoming full on gay. He used to have a crush on Liz. Old habits die hard."  
  
Damian sneered disgustedly and turned around. "Is that your excuse for THIS too?" He denigrated as he yanked out her arm, pushed up her sleeve, and revealed the blue marks.  
  
Tears welled up in Venice's eyes and she backed out, then ran to her own room and locked the door.  
  
Damian closed his door, then layed down on his bed. And staring at the stucco ceiling, Venice was soon not the only one crying.  
  
~***~ 


	12. Intertwined

Jack knocked on Venice's door. With no reply, he quietly let himself in.  
  
"Venice?" He said softly. There was music playing, something that was light with flute and violin in it. The room was dark.  
  
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Jack saw the curled up blob of Venice on her bed. He turned the light on, squinting a little at the sheerness of it.  
  
And he saw Venice holding her arm.  
  
Her arm was bleeding.  
  
Jack rushed up to her and snatched her arm away. There was blood all over it, and the covers of the bed, and all over Venice. Venice tried to pull away to no avail. Jack took a bed sheet and wiped the blood away on her arm to reveal a intricite design carved there. Just like the blue ones.  
  
"What the hell did you do this for, Venice?" Jack asked helplessly. The anger at her stupidity welled up inside of him quickly.  
  
Her head fell, hair falling in front of her face. "It's the rule," She said simply.  
  
"What rule?"  
  
A sigh escaped her lips. "Every time I cry. . . whether it be one tear or ten thousand, I count it. Every seventh time, I have to carve another design."  
  
The anger died. "Why?"  
  
"I don't know! It's just the rule."  
  
Jack didn't question further. He simply yanked her off the bed and dragged her down the hallway to the bathroom to wash it up.  
  
In doing so, he passed Will coming up the stairs. Venice yanked back suddenly on Jack, and looked at Will. "Be careful with him, Will."  
  
She followed Jack now, willingly, to the bathroom, went in, and closed the door.  
  
Will stood, confused. Only then did he notice the drops of blood on the white carpet. After staring at them, he resolved to come back to them later. He proceeded to Damian's room, knocking tentatively on the soft-wood door.  
  
"Go away, Will," said Damian from inside his room.  
  
Will opened the door anyway. "Damian, I'm sorry. I. . . I didn't mean it to happen."  
  
Damian didn't look at him. He didn't say anything.  
  
"Damian, please. I love you. Doesn't that count for anything?" No answer. "DAMNIT DAMIAN, WHY WON'T YOU FORGIVE ME?"  
  
Damian sat up. "BECAUSE YOU CHEATED ON ME!"  
  
Will was silenced by the sudden reaction he had gotten. His voice came out softly when he next spoke.  
  
"It was so hard. I liked Liz a lot before. To pull away would seem like a waste. . . I thought I would regret it. But instead I regret what I did. I'm so sorry. . . I can't believe how stupid I was to do that when I have someone like you."  
  
Secretly, Damian's heart softened. But his face didn't change. "Will, I trusted you."  
  
"I know. I'm sorry," He said quietly, "Is there any way I can regain that trust, Damian? I'd do anything," Will pleaded.  
  
Damian didn't say anything. Will sat down on the bed and hung his head.  
  
And he was surprised when he felt Damian's strong fingers tilting his chin up to kiss him.  
  
~***~  
  
Elizabeth sat downstairs on the couch, staring out of the window into the warm outside. Her emotions didn't match the weather, that was for sure. She was so confused. . .  
  
She heard the many stairs creak from the weight of someone stepping on them. Venice appeared in the doorway.  
  
"Are you ok?" She asked Liz. Liz looked up at her incrediously.  
  
"You care?"  
  
Venice shrugged.  
  
"I'm fine. . . I guess. Everyone's mad at me, aren't they?"  
  
Venice shrugged again and reached across her body to scratch her arm. Only then did Liz see the slightly oozing decorative cut on her arm. She also noticed the rest of them. . . Venice was wearing a tank-top.  
  
"Venice! What happened!"  
  
Venice looked down, then up, then down again. Her head fell. "Long story."  
  
"You did that to yourself?"  
  
She nodded melodramatically.  
  
Liz whispered, "They're beautiful."  
  
Venice looked up, straight into Liz's pretty eyes. Her heart melted. She went and sat down next to the blond and put her arm around her shoulders.  
  
"Thank you," Venice whispered back. Liz looked back up to her, and blushed. And Venice, without thinking, leaned in and kissed her.  
  
~***~  
  
Jack was in the bathroom, cleaning up all the blood on him. While in there he and Venice had gotten in an argument and she had walked out, leaving him to washing off his arms and face. He had heard her walk down the loud stairs, and when he was done, he followed her.  
  
~***~  
  
Liz jumped back, wondering if she should have liked that as much as she did. She stared at Venice, frightened but curious, and hesitated before doing it again.  
  
They both, though, heard the creaky stairs. Pulling apart quickly, Venice and Liz glanced at each other sideways. Venice gave Liz a little smile, and Liz smiled back.  
  
Jack walked in with a disgusted look on his face. "You made me so damn bloody!" He complained loudly. Venice rolled her eyes.  
  
"Are you done bitching at me?"  
  
Jack shrugged. "Eh. You'll get used to it. M'mom has already. Only took her 15 years, and even before that I was crying all the time."  
  
Venice and Liz laughed. Jack grinned.  
  
Still smiling, Venice said, "Jack, can you go get Damian and Will? I don't want to stay here for the rest of the day."  
  
Jack nodded and left the room. Venice waited until she heard the creaking of the stairs again to kiss Liz again.  
  
Liz pulled away. "Isn't this cheating?"  
  
Venice shrugged and replaced her lips on Liz's.  
  
This was going to be an interesting circle of friends for all of them.  
  
~***~  
  
Jack came into Damian's room right off because the door was open. And he was somewhat shocked to see Will and Damian making out on Damian's bed. "Having fun boys?"  
  
The two guys sat up and Will blushed. Flattening out his hair, he said, "Jack. . . what are you doing here?"  
  
Jack looked around. "No idea, mate. But come downstairs 'cause we were talking about going out again."  
  
Will nodded. He walked past Jack with a quick comment to Damian to hurry.  
  
Damian grabbed a pair of shoes and started to put them on before realizing that Jack was still there. He looked up. "Can I help you?"  
  
Jack looked around again aimlessly and shrugged. "Nah."  
  
"Ok. Then feel free to wait downstairs for me."  
  
Jack began to walk out the door, stopped, and turned around. "Actually, I have a question."  
  
Damian looked up. His eyes stopped for a moment on Jack's croch. "Yes?"  
  
"What is it like to kiss a guy?"  
  
That was all the invitation Damian needed. He stood up, rapidly walked up to Jack, took his face in his hands, and kissed him passionately. Jack's eyes widened in surprise, but then closed as he relaxed into the kiss.  
  
Much too soon, they heard Will yelling from the bottom of the stairs for them to hurry up. Jack looked a little longingly at Damian's lips before sprinting off, down the stairs.  
  
Damain's eyes followed Jack. He sighed. Somehow he knew he was going to regret that later.  
  
~***~ 


End file.
